LFR Looks To Continue Dominance On Track Again In 2019

(Press Release from LFR) 

LFR Secures 2018 NWMT Championship as well as 2nd & 3rd in Points 

LFR Owner Rob Fuller (left) with 2018 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Champion Justin Bonsignore (Photo: Courtesy LFR)

Since its inception, LFR has been the backbone of championship teams in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.  Dominating at the racetrack from 2015 to 2018, LFR cars have pulled into Victory Lane over 30 times on the NASCAR Modified tour alone and secured all championships in the past four years. 

This includes a dominating run by Doug Coby, winning three consecutive championships, as well as Justin Bonsignore, a NWMT veteran earning his first championship in the first year he ran in LFR equipment.  Also, in 2018, Chase Dowling commanded the inaugural Musket 250 at Loudon taking the pole and the win in the LFR house car.

“That is so important in this business,” explained Fuller. “You have to keep a house car on the track not only to stay up on the ever-changing dynamic of the sport, but to also show customers you know and understand your product. Very few chassis companies can provide the level of customer support that LFR can, simply because their customers are more educated on their product than they are. We have a great handle on the shocks and spring packages required to obtain and maintain a specific load at a specific track. It was too much on us as a company to chase points and keep the LFR brand headed in the right direction with development, as well as servicing customers. There were weeks we wouldn’t unload our car for days simply because the customers came first and that’s just not the right way to do it, so we won’t do it at all.” 

Heading into 2019, Rob Fuller will be taking the LFR brand and team into the new year with not only the drive to win, but a strong focus on R&D and customer support to continue its winning tradition. New designs and product development will be in the works at the LFR location in West Boylston, Mass. 

“It’s not who has the most cars wins,” said Fuller. “We are more focused on R&D, higher end design, and winning. We expect our cars to win, and I want to do everything I can to help our customers do that. If we sold cars to every team that called wanting one, we would be back where we were three years ago. Our cars are not for the masses and are more expensive in general. I have been the owner of a company that manufactures 100 plus chassis per year, and it is not the direction I would like to go at this stage of my life. While they are busy manufacturing cars for people they barely know, we will be at tracks conducting team LFR test sessions and wrapping up our Gen 2 and Gen 3 designs in 2019.”

“You can only be in so many places at one time” continued Fuller.  “LFR cars finished 1, 2 and 3 in the championship points standings and won over half the races on the tour so we expect to continue that level of dominance. The tour is a great place to judge performance. NASCAR does a great job policing the series to provide a level playing field which is tough to accomplish these days so my hats off to Jimmy (Wilson, NASCAR Series Director) and his team.” 

Dave Sapienza is a new addition to the LFR team in 2019. Sapienza had career-best qualifying and finish in his first-ever start in the LFR car he purchased and has since ordered another brand new LFR car for 2019. 

“That’s huge,” explains Fuller. “Guys like Dave are a perfect example of why I do this. He has a spring in his step now, their guys are more motivated than ever, and that’s something money can’t buy.  That’s what I enjoy the most when I can share my engineering background with guys that want to just race modifieds and have fun.” 

In 2018, Rob Fuller Motorsports ran a full-time in-house car for driver Chase Dowling, who secured his first-career win and finished second in championship points. 

“We are not running full time this year out of my shop, so we have a lot of plans for R&D on our chassis and some new designs coming out,” said Fuller. “Having an in-house car and being at the race track all the time with customers is vital to be the best. Companies can look at what we do and generate a similar piece, that’s to be expected, but they will always be a step behind us on track. We are years ahead with the direction the Modifieds are headed with set ups and shock valvings and vehicle dynamics in general. While the others manufacture what we are having success with, we will be moving on to the next level of design and performance to keep them chasing.”

“That’s what makes this sport great…competition,” continued Fuller.  “These Modified racers are extremely intelligent and experienced. They want someone they can listen to and respect when they want to bounce ideas off a chassis company, not someone who hasn’t been there or done that, if you will.” 

LFR owner Rob Fuller expects to debut their Gen 2 Chassis design in early 2019. The complete redesigned Gen 3 Chassis will be scheduled to debut towards the end of 2019. 

“The Gen 2 will consist of simple bolt on changes with minor chassis changes,” explained Fuller.  “It is very similar to my Draco Spring line. You cannot show your hand early in the game knowing the response will be duplication. We always have something on the horizon in regard to better designs for that reason alone. The large spring manufactures cannot keep up on design changes because of mass production processes which has provided an edge for Draco as well. The same applies to any competitive industry. There is a market for both for sure, but we will never go back there as long as I continue to own the company. The overhead, expense and just stress alone in heading down that road just isn’t fun and if I’m not having fun I simply won’t do it. I am extremely happy with where we are today as a company, and we will continue to maintain some of the best teams in racing and evolve in a manner that will keep us on top.  Look for LFR to maintain its level of dominance in 2019!”

For more updates, follow LFR on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LFRChassisInc or online at www.LFRchassis.com


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Comments

  1. So what does racedayct nation think?
    Would have been nice to know what the limited plans are for the house car and who will drive it. Very vague on that.
    Otherwise just an outstanding bit of self promotion and written well by Mr. Fuller one would think. Confirming the unmatched success of LFR. As well as sending a message that a steady pipeline of innovations is in the pipeline, the chassis costs more but you get more and the attention to detail with regard to bolt on items so critical to overall chassis performance is unmatched.
    Ruh ro Troyer et al.

  2. I’ve heard a couple names on the house car driver list. What a opportunity for a driver though. They are clearly heads and shoulders above the competition. Nice job LFR. Not a racer just a fan.

  3. Frankly Speeking says

    I will admit, the house car ran much better than I was thinking. When they announced a full time schedule I was thinking a 5-6th place run. They had a great season for the first time running for points. Troyer can definitely out perform them on spitting out more cars but not sure that’s what everyone wants. Billy is probably much easier to deal with over Fuller. I’m spilt. Performance comes from Fuller but is it worth it. Seems Troyer’s new car is a LFR copy so time will tell if his teams can figure it out quickly. No one at Troyer will help. How can they? They have never had a car on track to RnD. They should team up with someone that can help them on track and offer a discount for the data. Just a thought. Still expect a LFR team to win the championship.

  4. That is not the take I’m seeing at all from LFR customers public comments anyway. Bonsignor, Lutz, Sapienza, Coby have all said very nice things about LFR’s support. Lutz said his car at the Sizzler was spot on right out of the LFR shop. Hard to work with. Is it worth it? I guess it depends on your goals. For the front runners absolutely it’s all worth it. Mid pack with a tighter budgets and more modest goals maybe not worth it at all.
    Isn’t Fuller kind of admitting that as well in reading between the lines of his volume comments.

  5. New eglander says

    Lfr cars = fury cars put together in mass

  6. New Englander I’ll generalise like you, not quite

  7. LFR Cars = Rob Fullers chassis design
    Fury = Building the LFR Chassis i.e. wielding metal

  8. Master of none says

    There is no such thing as a fury modified. They manufacture LFR modifieds. When they design their own car then they can call it what they want. I purchased parts from LFR a month ago and they were shipped from another manufacturer. LFR is using several manufacturers folks. Fuller will keep on top and who manufactures his designs is his call. I wish he would design another super late model and work with Port City. Hmmmmmmm.

  9. Master of None, you might want to do a little research before saying there is no such thing as a Fury modified. Look at their website for one and then read this article of an interview with Tony Eury Jr.
    https://www.hotrod.com/articles/behind-scenes-fury-race-cars/
    It states point blank Robby Fuller is a dealer for Fury after Fultz and Eury bought the company.

  10. Researcher that story has a couple holes in it that I can see ,LFR was started by Steve levitte, and Rob Fuller I believe , and Ryan Stone is not with Fury race cars anymore ,so everyone is not still there. ,looks like the researcher has to do more research. Fury is welding metal for modifieds the way fuller tells them

  11. Master of none says

    Researcher. Darius Grala aka Kaz Grala’s dad bought the assets of LFR chassis NC inc. Those two can’t afford to buy your misinformed but lunch. Elect is correct, they weld steel. Do not do RnD, customer support or design. Sorry bro. I read on line that Bill Clinton is innocent as well. Get with it.

  12. Agree with Resercher. Also read the article he put yo the link to about a year ago, and pointed it out nany times. LFR is a Fury chassis. If you think Rob Fuller designed that chassis himself, put the crack pipe down and check into rehab.

  13. Rob P. I need to borrow your pipe. So LFR has been running that design since 2014. Who’s design is it then? Edjucate is please o wise one. Fury designed it in 2014? Fuller didn’t hire any employees until late 2015 when sales began. The late model and mod were both on track already and winning races. This should be a interesting answer.

  14. Mkey – I’ll say it again, do your research.
    Eury Jr’s position announced as General Manager in May, 2014. This does not fit your timeline.
    https://www.lfrchassis.com/rob-fuller-names-tony-eury-jr-general-manager-at-lfr-chassis-inc/
    (BTW – this is all from LFR’s website under News)
    Now riddle me this. Why is Northeast race cars now a supplier of Fury race cars and parts?

  15. Researcher you need to keep digging. I attended a party ay Thompson January of 2014 for RFM and they had a complete LFR chassis there… so quick math it takes probably 3 months to draw and design and another 6 weeks to manufacture… so if Eury was the brains behind the modified design as Rob p says how did this chassis appear 6 months before he was hired? I love when people come on here to smear someone with no data. Unreal. Fuller bought Leavitt out in 2013 and Leavitt was gone 6 months later. I was in the original building where Fuller started and he was by himself most of the time until the business grew then they moved across the street.

  16. https://www.facebook.com/LFRChassisInc/photos/a.1440599989491460/1461323800752412/?type=3&theater And there it is. The brand new LFR chassis I saw in JAN of 2014. So who designed it now??

  17. What’s the easiest way to tell the difference between a Troyer and LFR race car?

  18. Jimbo the last couple years the easiest way to tell the LFR car’s, they were the ones out front then came the Troyer car’s glad I could help , if you have any harder questions you’ll have to ask Dareal , he knows all. Merry Christmas

  19. Here’s some facts.
    1/1/14 – Fuller & Levitte announce the creation of LFR
    3/22/14 – New NC shop opened
    5/16/14 – Tony Eury hired by LFR
    11/14/14 – Ryan Stone employed by LFR
    Chassis 001 was already designed and built before Tony Eury started with LFR. So to Nick’s point, the chassis design was in the works sometime in mid to late 2013. From what I heard, Fuller was driving a proto type in 2013.

  20. Anybody interested actual facts, not just what theyve heard read this..

    Rob fuller was a Troyer customer for many years, having things changed and made custom along the way. Most of which was laughed at by every competitive race team on the tour. Like “When is this guy going to give it up and run something halfway normal and not struggle so much?”

    In the 2013/14 off season Fuller purchased his final two Troyer cars. One went to be assembled by a few guys at Phil Morans shop in preparation for daytona and new smyrna. The second went to Leavitt where Steve gathered all essential information off the Troyer chassis to be the bones of the build and built his version with input from fuller ofcourse. Measuring a Troyer vs. LFR on every suspension pickup point is comical, its all in the same location. The only difference is the LFR was built with a flat plate crossmember and you could get your upper a frames lower on the front clip because the one actual change was the 2×3’s are lowered. Add the 3 link,long panhard, and low swaybar like a Leavitt late model.. done.
    The success with LFR is undeniable and Fuller went through many failed attempts with those custom cars to get there. So anybody who thinks Fuller dreamt up some dream car overnight needs to look at true facts. He has been building at this for YEARS with multiple variations that came out of Troyer.

    End of the day, Bob at troyer was hard to deal with getting these custom changes pushed through to the shop, so fuller had Leavitt copy and make changes to the troyer. Troyer has new guys in place since then, so making some changes isnt as hard to deal with as it was for fuller.

  21. John, great explanation. How do you explain the 2 last year? Although it finished well, it was nowhere near dominant as it had been. Any ideas?

    And along with all those tweaks to the Troyer chassis, you put it in the hands of the top talented teams, that goes a long way to make it look good. The success of the top talented teams is undeniable.

    This was the best, priceless: “Measuring a Troyer vs. LFR on every suspension pickup point is comical, its all in the same location.” That surely has plenty of people scratching their heads.

    The flat plate and lower 2×3’s are potentially meaningful differences. That the upper a-frames mount lower is not necessarily a good thing, it makes the front suspension more vulnerable. The flat plate and lower 2×3’s are about the only potentially meaningful difference with a Troyer. So what about the flat plate and lower 2×3’s… why? What did it achieve? What is that called? Is it proprietary? Patented?

    And let’s be complete here, the LFR creation didn’t work at all until he put it in the hands of the talent of the 2 team. Yes, it had sporadic showings when as a house car it had other drivers, such as Szegedy and Silk, but it was still not competitive. Not until it was in the hands of the 2 team. The 2 team, with all its massive resources and talent, made it look good. The talent is so important. When Fuller was driving, it was a joke. It was a matter of when will the car expire, not if. Just go look at the record of the Fuller driven house car. The simple change in driver TALENT made a huge improvement in performance. See how that works… talent.

  22. Thanks dareal , we all knew you had the answers

  23. Dareal is a fnidiot says

    You are a idiot dude. The 15 made the 2 look stupid in their FIRST attempt at a championship. Wake up and smell what you are shoveling. Just because a car doesn’t look good in RnD phase doesn’t mean it’s not good. How do you sleep at night??

  24. What edition of the 15 made the 2 look stupid? What year? Who was the driver? Crew chief?

    Seems like you are talking about the 2018 season, when the 2 clearly lost its mojo, or tire guy, or flux capacitor, or nose dive control, something else, or some combination of the above.

    If it’s the 2018 season, that would be after the 15 learned from the teams using the chassis for years how to get it to run. Be real, previous years of the 15 house car were not impressive.

  25. The 15 had a number of good runs with Silk and Szegedy at the wheel, but had a number of mechanical issues negate them. I think the best evidence of Rob Fuller being on to something design wise was his run at the 2012 Thompson North-South event. Fuller drove in the South race, qualified on the pole, missed the drivers’ meeting, started last, and finished third behind Seuss and Hirschman. He passed 18 cars in 75 laps and was closing on the leaders. I think if he had a few more laps he would have won.

  26. Fast Eddie I’m sure dareal won’t be able to see that with his blinders on , right now LFR is on top , I don’t see any LFR teams switching to Troyer right now , maybe in a year or two or more but give Rob credit now , if nothing else he forced Troyer to step up their game and make upgrades to their chassis. I remember when Bob drove , he might not have been the best Fuller on the track , but from what I’ve heard he was the best Fuller in the garage, so maybe the Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree

  27. Elect, I think you’re spot on with Fuller’s mechanical mind aspect! Not looking at LFR, the guy created Draco Springs, which seem to be in every top running Modified out there. For him to come up with a vital component that has become that popular, he’s GOTTA know his stuff!

  28. Obviously the specific differences in the LFR build design, component location and affect in performance compared to other chassis is way out of my depth. John sounded very credible and informed.
    What I’ve observed though is not any one magic arrow in Fullers quiver. It’s his orchestration of all the components that make a car successful. Chassis design, shocks, rear end configuration and springs for sure. Also the team he’s assembled and especially his marketing. He’s the face of LFR, he’s here talking to us in press releases and he’s in our faces reminding us of his success and that future improvements are in the pipeline for the future. Most of us don’t buy chassis parts but the guys that do read racedayct and the air of confidence hits home.
    If you have the resources and want to win don’t you want an in your face, confident guy with a record of success?

  29. Fast Eddie wrote, ” Fuller drove in the South race, qualified on the pole, missed the drivers’ meeting, started last, and finished third behind Seuss and Hirschman.”

    He drove in the south race, far less competition, and he lost to Hirschman and Seuss, two northern guys with plenty of Thompson experience. Against southern guys with little to no experience and how-how to set up for Thompson. Not impressed at all.

  30. Fast Eddie I told you he has blinders on , he missed the part where you said he was catching them. Can’t wait for the dareal chassis to hit the track with him at the wheel , that will be impressive

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